Chandrababu urges Telangana cadre to get ready for polls, ambiguous on alliances

The dissolution of the Telangana assembly, paving way for early polls in the state, has put political parties in a tizzy. Though Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao may have caught the Congress off guard, the Congress was hoping that an alliance with Chandrababu's Naidu's TDP would help their prospects in the state. But after a day long brain storming session with Telangana TDP Politburo members and Central committee members in Hyderabad, TDP National President Chandrababu Naidu was non-committal on alliances.

He urged the Telangana cadres of the TDP to work for bringing back the party in the state. (Naidu has been the Chief Minister of united Andhra Pradesh, before bifurcation). "You all should be ready to work together to bring back TDP to it's past glory, whenever elections come in Telangana," he said.

But when it came to alliances, Naidu left his cards open, despite speculation that he may announce his willingness to go with the Congress, that is the main opposition against KCR in Telangana.

 

 

"I have asked Telangana leaders to decide what (alliance) will help the people to achieve their aspirations and I told them I will help them in any way possible," Naidu said. Calling the TDP's existence in Telangana as vital for the state, Naidu went on to praise his cadres for working for the state despite not being in power for 15 years. "TDP cadres are a synonym to commitment. For the last 36 years, TDP cadres have sacrificed many things and worked for the state, despite us not being in power," he said.

According to a top insider in the TDP, the discussions on Saturday were mainly around a potential coalition for upcoming elections in both the Telugu speaking states. The TDP in the current scenario has to recapture power in Andhra and also make sure that it survives in Telangana.

Several reports suggested that the Congress' decision to support the TDP's vociferous demand for Special Category Status (SCS) for Andhra Pradesh was one of the reasons why many in the TDP leadership were not averse to forming an alliance with the Congress. Earlier reports also claimed that both parties had discussions over forming a pre-poll alliance.

Though Naidu did not speak of the Congress as he addressed the media after the party meet, he lashed out at the BJP, yet again.

"The NDA government has gone forward to cheat both the states. I had asked for implementation of AP Re-organisation Act 2014 and SCS (Special Category Status) but instead of doing that, the Prime Minister tried to create a feud between two Chief Ministers. (himself and KCR)," he said.

He also alleged that demonetisation has failed and the government could achieve nothing with it. Naidu alleged that due to corruption in the banking system going unchecked by the present regime,  banks have lost credibility for the first time in Indian history. Naidu also criticised the BJP's food politics and statement by various leaders against Muslims saying, "Who are we to decide what one should eat, who gave you the authority for deciding that?"

During Lok Sabha elections in 2014, the TDP had allied with the NDA and popular film actor Pawan Kalyan's Jana Sena and was part of the union government till recently. Later, during HD Kumaraswamy’s swearing-in as Karnataka CM, Chandrababu shared the stage with Congress President Rahul Gandhi. Naidu has also stated that he would work for engineering an alliance against the BJP, when Kumaraswamy met him in Vijayawada recently.